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The following stories have received the most reader comments during the last 7 days.
- The country's mess is our fault (149)
- Obama is not a moderate (130)
- Sarah Palin's book hits the shelves: Locals react (66)
- Despite budget cuts, some Lodi Unified School District salaries continue to rise (55)
- Lodi City Council plans to cap number of taco trucks at 22 (47)
- The haves should help the have-nots (30)
- Lodi Flames slim playoff chances vanish in setback to Tracy Bulldogs (25)
- Tokay in, traveling to unbeaten No. 3 Grant for football playoffs (25)
- Nightmares about America's future (22)
- Tokay Tigers blow late 27-point lead in loss to Wolf Pack (22)
Let's raise a glass of good old tap water to the Galt council!
Good for the Galt City Council — in fact — hurray for every official of every city and every water district who drinks tap water and takes a pass on those silly water bottles.
Like busy beavers, most of us recycle paper, aluminum, plastic and on and on. And yet we buy millions of little plastic bottle to gulp water from because it some how makes us feel safe.
City water is regulated to parts per billion. The bottled water industry undergoes no such scrutiny. And who elects the board of directors at Crystal Geyser and Dasani, anyway?
Why not leave the oil in the ground that is used to make those plastic bottles and enjoy a glass of water from the tap?
Cork or screw caps? Does Mother Nature really care that much?
While we're looking at the news through the lens of environmentalism, how about those screw caps replacing cork in wine bottles?
Cork, like paper products, comes from a renewable source, say the purists.
But the world's taste for wine is outstripping Portugal's ability to grow cork trees. We're not sure why California cork doesn't work as well. Nevertheless, opening wine with a cork screw can often create an embarrassing mess when a bad cork disintegrates.
We don't think the little bit of aluminum or steel it takes to cap a wine bottle is going to throw Mother Earth out of her orbit. Others will disagree, of course.
Water recharge must move forward.
Back to water and Bryan Pilkington's petition to stop the North San Joaquin Water Conservation District's water pumping fee:
There's an old saying: You don't miss the water 'til the well runs dry.
That's not an analogy, Mr. Pilkington. That's literally what will happen if something isn't done to reverse the groundwater overdraft in this county.
North San Joaquin has the most effective proposal to "do something" or any government agency in the water basin. What's Mr. Pilkington's alternative?
Before you sign the petition, ask to see a better plan.
Sunshine on the public payroll.
Should the public know what public employees make?
Yes, ruled the state Supreme Court this week.
It's a decision that should please taxpayers from Yreka to El Centro.
Background: The Contra Costa Times newspaper sued the city of Oakland after officials there refused to release public payroll information, as they had in years past.
Public employee unions argued the release would invade individual privacy and might expose workers to unwelcome overtures by financial advisors or sales people.
The court ruled the public's right to know trumps those arguments.
Fact is, the state and many local governments have complied with requests for public salary information through the years, so the ruling isn't notably radical or unexpected.
Many requests have been put on hold pending this decision, though, so look for a surge in public salary information in coming months.
We know some public employees may be less than thrilled when their salaries are released.
Yet the value of transparency is hard to overstate. As chief justice Ronald M. George wrote:
"Openness in government is essential to the functioning of a democracy."
— The Lodi News-Sentinel

Reader Feedback
Lodi Living wrote on Sep 5, 2007 4:52 PM:
landlover wrote on Sep 5, 2007 12:57 PM:
Chris wrote on Sep 5, 2007 6:02 AM:
Doc Holliday wrote on Sep 5, 2007 12:51 AM:
Galt resident wrote on Sep 4, 2007 8:58 AM:
Watch Out wrote on Sep 3, 2007 4:32 PM:
Carol wrote on Sep 3, 2007 9:58 AM:
To Mr Baldwin wrote on Sep 2, 2007 8:48 AM:
REAL Concerned Citizen wrote on Sep 2, 2007 8:38 AM:
Al Baldwin, Galt wrote on Sep 1, 2007 8:11 PM:
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